The Poltergeist In Me
by EchoGhost1
Summary: There was an accident in the lab. Danny felt that the machine had done something to him, something that couldn't be undone. Sam blamed herself, had she doomed Danny? Tucker didn't know what to feel but he was worried for his friend all the same. And Jazz? She wasn't sure what had happened but her little brother was starting to act strange. (Birth of Phantom fic. Not AU)
1. Prelude - Ectoplasmic Nightmare

Danny had been having trouble sleeping the past few days now. Ever since the accident in his parents lab things just weren't the same. He knew he had gone through some kind of change, that was for sure, but to be honest, he really wasn't sure what to make of it.

Part of him was glad his friends were there when it happened. Sure they had kind of been a tad freaked out but they were there to help him and he knew they would be there for him no matter what.

But the other part of him wasn't glad that they had been there. Sure they would stick with him to help him get through this, no matter what. The thing was, they had been there to witness what had happened to him, they had seen it. They had heard it. They had said they had never heard someone scream like that before. They said they had been so scared, for him, for themselves. He really wished they hadn't of seen it. To have to be haunted by the sound of his screams.

Haunted. Funny, now that seemed like such an ironic way to think about it. He felt like just being here was haunting his friends. Sometimes he just felt he wasn't supposed to be here anymore. He felt like he had died.

And maybe he had. He sure felt... different. Sometimes he felt colder. Other times he felt lighter than air. And then there were the times where it felt like he just wasn't there at all.

Danny really wanted to be with his friends now. He wanted to talk to them. He wanted to know that he was still here. Still alive.

But it was 3 in the morning on Sunday. Well ok it would be Monday now right? Man he really should get some sleep. He had school tomorrow and it was hard enough before the accident.


	2. Ch 1 - The Haunted Beginning

Jazz had been home to hear it. She had been up in her room reading another thrilling chapter in her newest psychology book when _that_ sound broke through the calm of the day.

It was sudden, it was sharp, and it was painful. It was the most horrible sound she had ever heard in her life. It sounded like someone was dying! And with how her parents obsessed over death she couldn't believe she'd never heard something like it before.

It took her a moment to realize that the sound wasn't just coming from the lab, but that her parents weren't home today. They had gone to a convention for the weekend and had left her in charge while they were away.

Jazz had seen it as ok that Danny let his friends come over. It was Friday and she had over heard that they had a pretty tough test that day. She knew how much Danny needed to de-stress, and his friends always were the best remedy.

It just hit her that she had heard them go downstairs earlier while she was in the kitchen. She had been fixing herself a snack and was about to offer to make something for them when she heard them clamor down from his room. Sam had sounded excited, saying that of course she wanted to see it. Tucker was also excited but not as much as the girl had been. Danny seemed a tad reluctant, but Jazz knew he didn't want to disappoint his friends.

That's when the truth had hit her the hardest. Danny was down stairs in the lab. He was down there with that horrible sound. That awful sound was filling up the room he was in with his friends.

"DANNY!" Jazz heard Sam and Tucker shout in unison.

"Oh my god." Jazz whispered to herself. That sound, that horrible, awful sound wasn't just down there with her brother. It _was_ her brother! He was screaming and he was in pain! Oh god what was she going to do? She had to help him.

All that thinking had only taken a few minutes for Jazz to conclude that her brother was in trouble. She just hoped it wasn't going to be a few minutes that she would regret later. She ripped her door open and tore down the stairs, first one flight, and then the second flight of the basement.

Sam and Tucker were huddled around something on the floor. They both looked shocked. Jazz did her best as to not diagnose them as she cautiously walked up to them.

"Is-is he ok?" Jazz asked in a soft voice as if breaking the silence would ruin everything. As if things could get worse.

Tucker looked up at Jazz as if he didn't know who she was for a moment. Then he shook his head and shrugged saying, "I don't know, Jazz. He was up a moment ago but then he just, he just passed out."

Sam kept staring at Danny's still form. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from him and seemed to be muttering something under her breath. It was too soft for Jazz to tell what it was, but the guilt in Sam's eyes gave it away. Sam was blaming herself for this. But the question was why.

No, the real question was, "What happened?" Jazz found herself asking aloud.

Tucker looked back to Sam for help but on seeing her, decided to take things into his own hands. "Danny told us about how your parents had made a new invention. And how it didn't work. He said they called it 'The Fenton Portal' and how it was gonna be a door to 'the other side'. Sam, well she really likes creepy stuff, so she got kinda into the idea. She asked to see it. I was pretty curious too but Danny said it didn't work, he said it wasn't worth looking at a big hole in the wall. But Sam didn't back down. She kept egging him on. And you know how he gives into peer pressure." Tucker paused.

Jazz waited a moment, letting Tucker regain his composure. He had started to talk a lot quicker towards the end of that and looked a bit winded from it.

He took a deep breath and continued, "He took us down here. He showed us the portal, said that it didn't work. How he was actually kinda bummed about how it didn't work. Said he hated to see how the light of hope had died from his parents' eyes when it didn't work. Said that's why they were gone this weekend. He said it was his idea, find some cool ghost thing for them and encourage them to go to it. Even though he wasn't sure that the portal would ever work, he didn't want them to be sad about it anymore. Said to them that maybe it would give them a better way to make it. Maybe it would give them the answer as to why it wasn't working." Tucker shook his head and looked like he was holding back some tears. He took a sharp breath and finished his tale. "Danny just looked so bummed that we just thought that if we messed around down here it'd help. Maybe if we did something silly like go into the broken portal we could pretend it worked. Danny said he should check it first, said it might not be 100% safe. Said it might not... He put on one of the suits and went inside... it looked so dark in there... I heard the click... then the flash of light was so bright I thought it was lighting. But then... I heard... _him_." Tucker's gaze fell back onto Danny.

Jazz couldn't believe it. Of the years and years of failed inventions something finally did something. It seemed that the lab wasn't safe after all. Jazz just couldn't believe it.

The light on Danny's face made him look so pale, and it was eerie, discolored, green. Wait green? Jazz looked up to the light source and finally notice that the portal was alight with an odd green glow. The same hole in the wall that Jazz had tried to tell her parents to stop working on was now working. Would her parents finally be right? Would they be proud of Danny for helping him on this? Danny!

She snapped her attention back to her baby brother and was about to suggest that they take him to the hospital when he let out small grunt.

If all eyes weren't on Danny before, they were now. He opened his eyes slowly, blinked and closed them again. "Anyone catch the number of that bus? That's the last time I take a taxi into the city." Danny said with a smirk and slight chuckle.

Jazz had to think for a moment, was Danny just making a joke? Tucker let out a laugh, "Dude that didn't even make sense. I think you mixed those metaphors."

"Did I?" Danny said as he opened his eyes again and cocked a brow at his best friend. "Funny, I guess I wasn't quite awake yet when I was thinking of that." He sat up and quickly put his hand to his head. "oh, head rush. Man how long was I out? I had the craziest dream, I-." Danny opened his eyes and looked forward, right into the glowing, swirling portal and stopped.

Jazz couldn't see the look on his face but by the way his body had just tensed it couldn't have been good.

"N-never mind." Danny quickly got up and turned away from the light. The shadows of the room and his messy hair still blocked his expression form Jazz's view. He went to take a step away but he wobbled and nearly fell back to the floor when Sam's arm snapped out and caught him.

Jazz felt bad because she had all but forgotten that Sam was even there. She had just been so quite this whole time it was almost like she had disappeared.

"Let's go back to your room Danny. " Sam said in a soft almost whisper.

Danny nodded in response and reached his hand to hold the supportive arm she was giving him. Tucker quickly followed suit and the three went back to Danny's room without another word.

Jazz stayed in the lab for a few moments more. She just couldn't believe what she had just seen. She could of sworn she had heard her brother screaming like he was dying, but there he was, just shy of being perfectly fine. What had she missed?


	3. Ch 2 - Learning To Lie

It was early Monday morning and for once Sam was glad to be going to school. Normally the idea would strike her as odd, but it wasn't the school itself that she had missed. Oh no, it was her friend that she was dying to see.

Hmm, maybe in light of what happened she should refrain from 'death' today. As a Goth that might be a tad hard.

She shook the silly thought from her mind, this was serious. She had to make sure Danny was alright. That he was even still here, among the living.

After the accident last Friday she wasn't sure what to expect, but as she and Tucker had reassured their nervous friend, they would be there for him no matter what. He seemed to perk up when the promised that, but there was also this hint of sadness in his eyes too. Was he blaming himself for what she...?

"NO! Stop it! Blaming yourself will get you nowhere" Sam muttered to herself as she left her house ignoring her parent's overly cheery good-byes.

Eventually Sam got to school and went straight to Danny's locker. She couldn't help the small smile that lit up her face when she saw him there.

"Danny!" Sam said a little too cheerfully and she quickly pulled in her emotions as she reached him. "How you feelin'?"

Danny turned to her and his face said it before his mouth did, "Tired. I didn't get much sleep all weekend. I-I just couldn't stop thinking about-" he paused and looked away, but Sam didn't need to hear more. She went to place a reassuring hand on his shoulder when _someone_ decided to ruin the mood.

"Hey look, it's the little dork Fenton! Having trouble opening your locker?" Dash sneered as he stepped way to close for comfort.

Danny's head popped up in attention to his name but the quick change of his expression told Sam all she needed. "I'm fine Dash." Danny muttered.

"Geez Dash, don't you have something better to do? Like catch a football or something?" Sam quipped back.

"I wasn't talking to you." Dash spat back glaring at Sam. "And it's not like there's anything wrong with helping out a fellow student, is there?" Dash directed this question more at Danny not really giving him any options and blocking Sam in the processes.

Danny looked down at his shoes in defeat and softly shook his head. "Guess not. Go ahead." Danny answered softly as he sidestepped out of the way.

That was the one thing Sam hated about Danny, he never stood up for himself. Sure he never did before but Sam was always hoping he'd start to in high school. Guess you can't change a person that much. No matter how much good it would do them.

Dash laughed and quickly opened Danny's locker, a little too quick for Sam's liking but she guessed it wasn't the first time he'd done this. But whatever for?

Dash threw the locker open and knocked a few things out of it as if making space, then quickly grabbed Danny by the collar lifting him off the floor. "Dang, Fenturd, you seem lighter than the last time. Ah well, glad you decided to make this easier for me." And with that he roughly shoved Danny inside his own locker and slammed it shut, whipping his hands clean of the crime and walked away with his fellow jocks laughing all the way.

Sam was shocked. How many times had Dash done that to him? She had noticed that Danny had quickly curled in on himself at the last moment to avoid hurting himself. Gosh how had she not known about this?

She quickly raced over to the locker and was about to ask Danny his combination when the oddest thing happened. Danny just fell out of his locker. Not just out of it, but threw it! And by the look on his face he wasn't expecting it either.

She was about to ask if he was ok and also how the heck did he did that, when she hesitated. What was that look on his face. Fear?

"Not again. Not again. Not again. Oh why is this happening again! Why won't it just stop?" Danny was mumbling to himself. He muttered a few more things but Sam didn't quite catch them all. Well except for "first my bed, now this?"

Same broke herself out of her mini trance and knelt down next to Danny. "Hey, are you ok? You're not hurt from that er-fall are you?"

Danny quickly shook his head. "No, I didn't even feel it..." a very deep worried look crossed his face but he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late. Mom made this awesome breakfast this morning that I could not pass up!" Tucker said with a big grin on his face. It took him a moment to realize that something was off. "You guys ok?" he then added "What's with the mess?"

Danny quickly picked it up. "Dash." He answered quickly and got up to place his things back in his locker.

Tucker let out a disapproving sound "Figures as much. You think he'd get tired of picking on you. I mean he's been at it since we were in grade school. That guy really needs to get over you. You think it's because of what happened at that summer day camp we went to? You know with-" Before Tucker could finish his thought two very strange things happened in unison.

First, Danny's locker slammed open. By its self.

Second, Danny turned around so fast they barely noticed he had moved and glared at Tucker angrier than Sam had ever seen him, eyes glowing green, and growled out "Shut up Tucker! You _Promised_ not to bring that up _ever_ again!"

"Whoa hey dude, sorry! No need to bite my head off. I forgot Sam wasn't in on that. Chill out dude." Tucker said nervously with his hands up defensibly.

Danny instantly calmed down, his eyes returning to the normal soft blue, and his anger was replaced with guilt. "Oh Tuck I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to get that mad at you. I just- it must be the lack of sleep catching up with me..." Danny confessed.

"I know you can get a bit grumpy if we stay up to late but that was something else. Did you sleep at all this weekend?" Tucker asked jokingly.

Danny just looked his friend dead in the eyes. "No." he answered flatly. "After what happened... how could I? I- I'm afraid I'll dream about it. And it was bad enough going though it once." Danny paused and turned to put his things away and get what he actually needed for class into his bag. "But I still feel like something is... different."

* * *

If all else failed Danny knew his friends would be there for him. No matter what.

And right now he was grateful for that. Honestly he couldn't ask for better friends. And what he was extra glad about, in secret anyway, was that they didn't seem to be fighting today. Sure they didn't every day, but usually they'd bicker about something or another. And Danny usually had to try to break it up, as much as he didn't like it. But today they were being good. Maybe it was because of him. Were they trying extra hard to be good cuz of what happened. Whatever it was that happened to him.

Or were they still upset about him snapping at them. He really hoped it wasn't that. He did say he was sorry for that didn't he? And he really didn't know what had come over him. He was just was _so_ mad, at Dash, at Tucker, at what Tucker was bringing up again.

But mostly Danny was mad at himself. How could he be so stupid as to get himself practically killed in his own house? How stupid was that! He's the son of two geniuses! He should know better than to go walking around virtually unprotected into a machine with live electrical wires! What was wrong with him! He's just lucky he didn't die!

Then again... he was feeling awfully cold.

* * *

'_I've known Danny for a long time. I've seen him at his best, and I've seen him at his worst. _

_But nothing tops how mad he had gotten at me earlier. Sure he seemed super sorry about it right afterwards but the fact that he got that mad in the first place._' Tucker thought to himself as he settled into his seat for their third period class.

Tucker continued his inner monologue, '_Sure I had brought up some pretty sour memories but it's not like it was my fault right? Well maybe it was. It was hard to remember all the gory details after such a long time. Well in light of recent events, they were actually gory. Just really, really, embarrassing. Danny should just be glad I didn't have a camera on me at the time.'_

But while Tucker was lost in his memories he didn't notice the not quite normal thing happening right next to him. Danny had followed him behind him and had taken his normal seat to the left of Tucker with Sam taking the seat on Danny's other side. The thing that was wrong with this picture was that Danny wasn't visible once he took his seat.

Sam had noticed it first and just stared wide-eyed at the place where Danny was just a moment ago. "Danny?" Sam hissed in a small semi-worried whispered.

"What?" Danny answered unaware of his visibility issues.

That's when Tucker looked up himself. Something sounded off with Danny's voice, it was like he was talking through one of those tin can and string telephones that kids make. But his voice also sounded... distant? Hollow? Tucker couldn't quite put his finger on it but it wasn't how Danny normally sounded. Yet it _was_ still Danny's voice.

When Tucker finally saw Danny he couldn't hide the shock on his face. His mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out a little too. Where was his best friend? He just heard him! Didn't he follow him into class?

Sam was trying her best to hide her shock. "I- er umm... never mind."

There was a soft rustling of clothes from Danny's seat and his disembodied voice replied "ok then."

It took a moment but Tucker realized that Danny must have shrugged. That was the sound of his shirt moving against his body. Maybe he even rolled his eyes?

The invisible Danny picked up his pencil and started to twiddle it in what Tucker assumed to be his fingers.

Tucker was just about to mention the invisible factor to Danny when Mr. Lancer cleared his throat from the front of the room.

"It turns out I have an important meeting I need to attend to so you will be having a sub today. This is Mr. Dulldrum, behave." Lancer than quickly exited the room leaving a small old man in his place. Mr. Dulldrum shuffled over to the desk and carefully took his seat as if he would break if he went any faster.

"If the guy moves any slower we might not have to do anything for class." Danny whispered without a mouth.

Tucker snickered a bit forgetting for a moment that his friend wasn't there, well at least not to the human eye anyway. Again Tucker was going to tell his friend to try and show himself but was once again cut off.

"If I keep getting ignored I'm going to develop a problem." Tucker thought to himself while he silently pouted.

The substitute teacher started to take roll, as he did his eyes occasionally left the roster. Before long Danny's name was called, "Daniel Fenton?"

"Here." Danny answered invisibly.

The sub nodded without checking to see if Danny really was in his seat and continued.

Tucker could not believe Danny's luck. He had to look to Sam to see if she was really seeing this too. Tucker leaned back in his chair and looked to Sam. Luckily she had turned to him at the same time and they silently exchanged looks of disbelief.

The rest of class we pretty uneventful, the teacher assigned some in class reading and no one else seemed to notice that Danny was missing from view.

As it got close to the end of class Sam leaned in towards Danny and motioned for Tucker to do the same. "Let's hang back after everyone leaves. I uh, need to tell you something." She whispered.

"But what about the sub? I don't think he'll be in a huge rush to get out of here if his entrance is any indication." Tucker added knowing that Sam wanted to break the news to Danny.

But Danny interjected, "I don't think we have to worry about that too much guys, he fell asleep five minutes into class."

"But won't the bell wake him?" Tucker asked not sure where to look for his friends face and settling with starring at the old man in the front of the class.

"Nah, Paulina went up and asked to use the restroom and he didn't even budge. So her, Star, & Valerie just kinda left. I don't think they're coming back either..." Danny answered.

Of course he'd notice when Paulina left the room. Tucker was surprised he didn't notice her sultry Latina voice himself, but having your friend seem all but imaginary during class it wasn't that big of a leap.

Soon the bell rang and everyone but them practically ran out of the room. And to Tucker's surprise Danny was right, the teacher was still fast asleep. If anything he looked more peaceful.

Sam quickly turned to Danny, or at least hoped she was. "Danny I need to tell you something." She said in a quick but quite tone.

"What is it?" Danny asked completely clueless.

"You've been invisible all class. Heck you still are now!" Sam said a near desperate edge to her voice.

"What?!" Danny said in an exasperated whisper. He let out a little scream, probably just noticing himself for the first time. "Wha-? How? Guys how do I fix this?"

Suddenly Tucker felt something grabbing his shoulders, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Danny's voice cracked under the pressure.

"I tried dude. But I kept getting interrupted. " Tucker replied not sure how to get Danny to let go of him if he couldn't see him.

Sam quickly added, "But maybe it was for the best that we didn't, I mean look how you're _taking_ it. If we had said anything while everyone was here they'd all know. Isn't it best we keep this a secret until we figure out what's going on with you?"

Danny's grip loosened on Tucker until it was gone. "yeah, I guess..." Tucker thought he heard the desk creak but wasn't sure. Maybe Danny had moved? But he didn't hear him walking. "But what _is_ going on with me?"

Without warning the man in the front of the room let out a loud and sudden snore causing the teens to jerk in reaction. And causing Danny to snap back into visibility.

"Oh hey, there you are." Sam said seeing Danny leaning against desk.

"Hu?" Danny looked at his hands and smiled with relief, "good to know that wasn't permanent."

Tucker smiled but started to think that this wasn't going to be the last time something like that happened. But he'd keep that to himself for now. No need in worrying his buddy now.


	4. Ch 3 - Haunted By Regret

Danny was glad to finally be home after the weird day he had at school. He was able to stay in the visible spectrum for the rest of the day but did manage to lose control of the solidity of his hands in science class, therefore breaking five beakers.

It didn't matter how much he tried to apologize for it, they were still broken and after the third the teacher wasn't exactly feeling sorry for him anymore. Luckily none of the broken beakers had any dangerous substances inside, but one did have water in it.

Needless to say Danny couldn't wait to just flop on his bed and leave the day behind. But when he opened the front door he found that maybe he wasn't going to get that.

"I'm sorry Danny I had to tell them," Jazz said in quick apologize as soon as he had closed the front door, "I wanted to wait until you got home but you were talking too long, did you miss the bus?"

Danny nodded, he missed it because he had to stay after and clean up the science lab after school. It wasn't that bad of a punishment having to help clean the lab at home. It was actually really easy in comparison, no weird ecto-goo sticking to everything there. He had finished relatively quickly and wasn't sure if the teacher was impressed or annoyed by his quick work.

"Tell them what?" he asked not really sure what she seemed so guilty for.

"About the accident Danny. They wanted to know why the portal started working. I told them you were down there. I-I think you should go talk to them." Jazz looked to her slip-ons then turned to retreat into a book.

Danny was a bit worried but also still confused. What happened when she told them? Were they mad at him for doing something so stupid? Did they think he was hurt? Well he wasn't 100 percent on that one himself but he figured he was ok enough, beside the weird things that kept happening. Should he tell them about that?

He walked over to the lab door and made his way down the darkened stairs. He was about a third way down when he heard them. And they didn't sound too happy. He hesitated for a moment but decided that he better just go all the way down and face it. If it got too bad he could always run back up to his room right?

* * *

Maddie Fenton could not believe it! While her and her husband were away, their biggest project, in size and achievement, was finally working! At first she was ecstatic! Finally they could prove to the world that they knew what they were doing! They could finally catch those elusive ghosts and do all the experiments they could think of!

But on the other hand she was furious. It wasn't just some random happenstance that caused the portal work, no it was he little boy. Her precious son had wondered in here and had somehow figured out their highly complex machine. Was he hurt? Did he get ecto-acne like their old friend Vlad had in his accident? They had come home so late from their trip that they hadn't seen the kids off to school, but Jazz said he seemed fine. Maybe a little tired but otherwise fine.

She was also mad at her husband for leaving the lab door unlocked while they were away. She was slightly annoyed at Jazz for letting Danny play in the lab too, but Jazz was still a kid herself, and also a teenager, not exactly the best in babysitting services.

Maddie was swinging from joy to anger faster than Jack could comprehend. He was excited too, that was easy to tell, but he didn't seem to realize the danger that their son could have been in.

"Don't you see Jack? We can't just leave the lab open like that when were gone! And why was the machine still plugged in? I thought I told you to unplug it so we could analyze it when we got back? What if we had gone in there and it was still active? What if that was where Danny had gone? The amount of electricity this thing can produce could _kill_ someone!" Maddie was shouting now and waving her arms in emphasis.

Maddie didn't hear her young son come down the stairs. She didn't notice the look of absolute horror cross her face at her final words. And she would of gone on not noticing him if he hadn't of dashed up the stairs so fast that his feet barely meet the stairs and slammed the door behind him. Well he had flown up them actually, but he hadn't noticed that either.

* * *

Jazz looked up suddenly from her book at the sound of the basement door being slammed open. She was about to ask what was wrong but her brother didn't stop. He bolted to the second floor faster than she had ever seen him run before and then promptly heard his door slam as well.

"Oh little brother, what happened down their?" Jazz asked the empty air not only referring to the present situation but also the accident.

* * *

Danny couldn't breathe. He tried and tried but the air just wouldn't fill his lungs. His heart was pounding in his chest so hard it hurt, but that also might be his lungs stinging. His head was spinning and all he could do was slowly slide his back down his bedroom door. He landed with a soft thump when his rear hit the floor but he hardly noticed it.

He was ok. He was ok. He was going to be ok. Danny repeated to himself in an effort to calm himself down.

He closed his eyes and tried to mentally deny the small droplets of tears on the edges of his eyes. He wasn't crying. He was fine. Sure he had never seen his parents fight like that before but that didn't mean anything. It's not like they were going to spilt up or anything, right?

Danny shook his head, thought like that weren't helping at all. He took a shaky breath once his body had stopped shaking so much. He hadn't noticed that earlier. He opened one eye and held up a hand palm down at eye level, it shook ever so slightly.

Great, was this a panic attack? Crud, he'd only hear about them in passing, he had no idea what to do now.

At this thought of unknowing helplessness he started to hyperventilate again. He brought up his knees and curled up his body to rest his head on them.

He took another shaky breath and closed his eyes tight not caring now as the hot tears fell to the floor. "I'm not dead. I didn't die. I'm not dead. It was just an accident." Danny muttered aloud to himself hoping that maybe saying it out loud would help.

"_But how do you know?_" said an unhelpful voice in his head.

"Oh that's just great" Danny mumbled lifting his head slightly to wipe the tears off his face, "that little part of me that likes to make me feel worse. Just what I needed." Danny finished sarcastically and dropped his head a little too roughly back onto his knees as if to simulate smashing his head into a desk.

"_Mom said that if you were in the portal when in turned on you would die. She said this and you have been feeling odd lately._" The voice chided him.

Danny huffed in protest. He really hated thinking like this, but once it started he knew it was just easier to let it run its course than to protest it. Sure if made him feel cruddy but it was the only way he had worked out how to deal with all his negative thoughts and feelings, blame them on something else. In this case it was another him, in his head, that caused most of his suffering. It liked to point out things that he would try to ignore. It would remind him of the hurtful things people had said or done to him. It was his way of dwelling on things. And he knew if he told his sister she would probably just rush him to the nearest mental hospital, or worse, try to cure him herself.

He did sneak a look at one of Jazz's books once to try and figure it out but the closest things he could find were schizophrenia and depression. He was really hoping it was the latter, he wasn't sure how he'd deal with the first one.

He leaned his head against the door again and took a deep sigh, "but I don't feel dead?" he spoke softly to his self-dubbed 'anti-conscience '.

"_Did you ever listen to any of the things you r parents told you?_" the anti-conscience replied. Danny could just image it smirking at him, if it had a face that is. Or was real.

"Sure, but they've told me lots of things, you're going to have to be more specific if you want me know what you're talking about." Danny answered in the most annoying way he could think of. He had a pretty good feeling where this train of thought was going, but he couldn't help trying to cheer himself up.

If the anti-conscience had eyes it would have rolled them indignantly, "_Sometimes ghosts don't know they are dead._"

Danny jumped to his feet in protest. He wasn't going to stand for this any longer, well sit but you get the point.

"I'M NOT DEAD!" Danny shouted much too loud in response to a voice only he could hear.

The voice went quite but before Danny could feel he'd won the argument he felt a strange sensation in his stomach. It felt cold and hallow. It also felt bright?

Wait that didn't make any sense. Maybe he hit his head harder than he thought. He looked down towards the feelings and sure enough there was a bright white light hovering in the middle of his body. Danny starred at the small white orb in a mixture of pure fascination and curiosity and a dash of utter horror.

Feeling more of the previous emotions than the latter Danny reached to touch the light. It didn't hurt, he didn't even feel it at all. To his surprise the small orb grew slightly and another appeared on his finger as he pulled his hand away. "What the-?" Danny let the question linger as the two balls of light grew until they had split into two halos of light surrounding him. The sound they made as they appeared reminded Danny vaguely of the noise of camera's flash but in slow motion, also a lot louder.

Danny watched as the halo's of cold light spread in opposites directions. He felt the odd cold hallow sensation spread where ever the rings had past. He noticed that where his normal white t-shirt and jeans had been, they had been replaced with a black and white form fitting hazmat suit. Just as suddenly as it had started the rings had finished their journeys and disappeared.

This was the suit he had put on to enter the portal, well sort of. The colors had swapped. He noticed a faint glow around himself. How bright was it? He went over to the window see his reflection, not realizing that he hadn't walked but instead floated over. Then he noticed his hair had gone snow white and he eyes were green... and glowing.

He stumbled backwards afraid of what he saw. Luckily for him no one saw him, not that he even thought to remember that he wasn't using a mirror and that windows gave people that ability.

Danny was starting to panic again, this time the stress of repeated panic attacks and the energy spent transforming finally took its toll. Danny fainted, his body half on his bed as he turned back.


	5. Ch 4 - The Spirit Distressed (tPiM)

Luckily and unknown to Danny, his sisters overprotective nature saved him. After he had run off to his room and subsequently passed out, Jazz stop their parents from going into his room. Maddie had insisted to check up on him but Jazz was just as stubborn as to keep them out.

"He just needs some time." Jazz protested.

"Time for what Jasmine? I need to see if my baby is ok!" Maddie argued exasperatedly.

"Mom I checked him over after it happened, do you really think I would have made him go to school if he wasn't alright? Like I said before, he just seemed a little tired. I think the experience shocked him..." Jazz paused realizing her poor choice of words, "er- surprised him, I mean. I think if we just let him rest up tonight he can tell us all about it tomorrow."

Maddie wanted to fight this more but she also wanted to show that she trusted her daughter. "Fine." She decided, "But I think we also need to go over the house rules again tomorrow too."

* * *

It was dark when Danny woke up. It took him a moment to realize that he was uncomfortable, and a moment more to see why. He was lying in a crumbled heap on the floor beside his bed. He sat up and rubbed some of the sleep out of his eyes, he was still in his day clothes and it took him some remembering why he was like this.

Right, he had passed out. His parents were fighting, he might be dead.

He couldn't be dead.

Danny pulled himself off the floor and found his phone, he flipped it open and checked the time, 10:45. Well that was much too late to be calling Tuck, but was it for Sam?

Danny typed a quick question, "Are U still up?" and sent it to his gothic friend.

"As a creature of the night, of course I am. What's up?" was Sam's speedy reply.

"another weird thing happened to me again. Something ghostly." Danny hesitated but sent the text anyway. It's not like anyone else was going to read this.

"Oh? Should we chat?" was all she said.

Danny sighed but let a small smile play across his lips. He sent a simple "yes" and went to ready his computer.

It took a few minutes for his computer to fully turn on but he didn't mind the wait, it gave him time to think about what had happened.

"What took so long?" Sam's voice broke though his thoughts in a harsh whisper.

"Oh sorry," he let out a nervous chuckle, "had to turn on my computer." Danny explained simply oddly glad to see her worried about him.

Then to his surprise another video chat window opened. "So you gonna tell us something that makes sense now?" Tucker asked slightly agitated that Sam had called him so late, he had almost gotten in trouble. Not that she would care.

Danny smirked, it was nice to have friends. "Sorry Tuck, she didn't tell me she was getting you. But I'm glad you're here."

Danny did his best to explain what had happened after school. How his parents had fought how he had somehow transformed into a ghostly version of himself, how he passed out afterwards. He did happen to leave out the bit where he panicked and afraid he was by his parents fight. He really wasn't thrilled about telling his friends about that bit, it just seemed too personal.

His friends were quiet for a few moments after he had finished and he was starting to feel that maybe they were going to decide he was too weird to be friends with anymore.

But then Tucker broke the silence first, "You know if you get the hang of this it could be really cool."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked confused yet intrigued by the statement.

"Well it kinda sounds like you have super powers. You could pull some super awesome pranks on people!" Tucker persuaded.

Sam continued, "Well I don't think you should prank people, but you could really help! You could be more like a hero for the little guy!"

"Are you guys saying I should be a super hero? Don't I need a villain to fight? Heck don't I need to be able to fight? Guys this is crazy!" the more he thought about the more he didn't want it. He couldn't be a hero. How could he protect others when he couldn't even stand up for himself?

Danny sighed, "sorry guys, I-I don't mean to put down your ideas like that. It's just-" he really wasn't sure exactly, maybe he was still afraid. All his life he was told ghosts were evil. So if he had ghost powers what did that make him? "What if I'm not the hero?"


End file.
